


The Traitors: The Maze and Scorch

by paigepetrucio



Series: Maze Runner Series- POV of Teresa & Isabelle [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Burn, Teresa's POV, WICKED | WCKD is Not Good, her name is Isabelle, isabelle's pov, she's funny, teresa's sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28870344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paigepetrucio/pseuds/paigepetrucio
Summary: Hundreds of millions versus a couple dozen. Who was she to choose her living loved ones over others dying ones? Is she a betrayer of Wicked? Of her friends? Of humanity? An impossible dilemma, cultivated by unwavering faith and hope. But hope can be our savior or destroyer.This is the story of the Maze Runner, through the eyes of Teresa Agnes, The Betrayer.She played the role Wicked wanted her to so she could be on the other side when they came out. Because they had to come out. They had to survive. They- they just had to.This is the story of the Maze Runner, through the eyes of Teresa's sister, Isabelle, The Sacrificer. A Wicked scientist, a year older than Teresa, trying desperately to find a cure and save her friends.**Disclamer**: I do not own any of these characters or plot lines except for Isabelle and her plot line. The rest of these characters and plot lines belong to James Dashner.
Relationships: Brenda/Thomas (Maze Runner), Minho/Original Character(s), Teresa Agnes/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Series: Maze Runner Series- POV of Teresa & Isabelle [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117220
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Teresa’s POV:

I ca- I can’t- I can’t breat- I gasped.  
Eyes flying open, air burning my lungs, light blinding me.  
“Thomas” I breathe, and then the light fades again and darkness welcomes me back into her warm embrace.  
_________

I don’t know how many days it has been since I started hearing voices. They come and go. Whispering. Sometimes shouting. But I can never put a name to a voice, nor a face.  
But it doesn’t stay like that for long.

My fingers were the first things I could move. Then my toes. Next my arm. And then I could finally open my eyes. Don’t know why I bothered, the view wasn’t much, only sticks tied together vertically to create a hut. 

I started testing all my muscles, trying to make them move. I started flexing my calfs, then my stomach, and once I was certain I could move everything I sat up, and realized that I am completely alone. 

The next thing I realized was that I’m really fucking hot. Like sweating in every crevice of my body hot. And no wonder too, I’m wearing black jeans and a long sleeved shirt.  
I was busy inspecting myself for any cuts or bruises when a young kid with curly hair walks in, looking like he’s going to shit his pants. He’s not much of a threat but I have no idea where I am and this is the last place I want to be when the rest come. 

“Oh, I- I’m chuck,” He says timidly, standing by the door, “just wait here let me go get Clint and Jeff.”

The last thing I want to do is get this seemingly innocent kid in trouble, but like hell I’m gonna stay here and wait for a bunch of guys to get up in my personal space. So I run.  
I run to the door and push past Chuck and then freeze, looking around me.

There are four walls, one on each side. And I’m in the middle. 

Fuck. 

Chuck comes out yelling towards a group of guys standing by another makeshift hut, and when they see me they start sprinting towards me.

Since I have no idea how to actually get the fuck out of this box, tall tree house looking thing it is, I decide sprinting over there, picking up rocks on the way. 

“Hey STOP!” Someone yells from behind me with an accent.

Others yell too, but by then I am already halfway up the ladder.

The ladder starts shaking beneath me and I look down to see a kid with freckles and wonky eyebrows climbing up after me, so, like any terrified person, I chuck a rock at him, which he dodges. So, instead, I wait for him to catch up a bit and then kick him in the head with my boot. He screams as he falls and when he gets up and starts screaming Bloody Mary at me I’m already at the top.  
I get a better view from at the top, and see green and gray. That’s it. Green trees, green vines, green grass, gray walls. It’s like that on every side. 

My heart starts racing and my mind starts whirling and before I even realize it, I’m throwing rocks and whatever I can find up top at the boys below.  
The same boy with an accent yells at me to stop and then commands someone else to do something but I can’t hear what he says.

“Stay there,” I yell down, “I swear to god if you come up hear I will toss you off the top!”

“I don’t think she likes us very much.” The accented boy from below comments.

That earns a few snickers from below but also a few grunts. The boy I kicked from before starts bellowing at me to come down. 

“What do you want from me?” I scream.

“We just want to talk!” Another one yells up at me.

“I’m warning you!” I yell back down.

“Bloody hell.” He comments again.

“Take cover ya’ll! Take cover” A boy starts up again as I start throwing more rocks.

“Hey hey it’s Thomas!” Someone yells and my heart stops, “I’m gonna come up okay?”

Thomas? I- I know a Thomas, I remember that name, it’s the only one I remember besides mine.  
“I- okay-” I respond.

“Just me. I’m coming up.”

I prepare myself, sitting up against the trunk of the tree with a knife I found up here pointed at the small hole.

First I see his brown hair, then his face and then the rest of him and my body tenses. Everything about this place feels so dangerous.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa” he coos, holding his hands out. “Okay just- just take it easy.”

Take-TAKE IT EASY?? I’m in a concrete box with nothing but teenage boys and my fucking name and he tells me to ’take it easy’?!

“Where am I” I demand, “What is this place? Why can’t I remember anything?”

“This,” He gestures around him, “this is all normal, we’ve all been through it.” He continues, “your name, it’ll come back with-”

“My name. It’s Teresa.” I interrupt.

He smirks a bit, “Teresa, I’m Thomas. But you already knew that didn’t you?”

I lower my knife a bit, there’s something undeniably comforting about his demeanor. “They said I kept saying your name in my sleep. Who are you?” I ask.

His smirk drops and his face grows solemn, “I…I don’t know. I can’t remember, none of us can. We all woke up here just like you did.”

By that point my knife is still in my hand but resting on the ground.

“I’m gonna take this, okay?” He says, reaching for my knife.

“What’s going on up there?” Someone yells from below, “Is she coming down?”

Thomas looks from me to the ground then back to me, and I nod reluctantly.

He turns back towards the ground, “yeah, just give us a second, okay?”

“Yeah alright.” Someone says faintly and I can hear their shuffling on the ground.

I look back to Thomas and ask, “‘She’s the last one’, what does that mean?”

“I’m not sure. Ever since you came up, the box hasn’t gone back down.” He looks back towards the make-shift shacks, “I just think it’s got everyone a little worried. Especially Gally, he thinks it’s all my fault” He turns back to me, “Are you sure you don’t remember anything else?”

I look at him, and bit my lip, trying to decide whether or not I should tell him. But since at this point i’ve got nothing to lose, I say “I remember water, and feeling like I was drowning. I remember these faces staring down at me and a woman's voice saying over and over again, ‘wicked is good’.”

Thomas’s face shifts in confusion, “I’ve had these dreams, well I thought they were dreams. You… you were there. And you told me that everything was going to change.”  
Everything… everything’s going to change? Change from what? What was it like before?

“What does it mean?” I whisper.

“I don’t know, I only get pieces.”

“And the others don’t remember anything?”

“No”

Why are we different? Why do only Thomas and I have bits and pieces of the past? Why did I only remember his name? All these questions rattling around in my brain are giving me a migraine.  
I shift how I’m sitting and feel something in my back pocket, and realize I still have those two vials. 

I reach into my back pocket and pull them out and hold them out for Thomas, “These were in my pocket when I came up.”


	2. Chapter 2

Isabelle’s POV:

I watched from behind the monitor as Teresa sprinted towards the make-shift tower.   
I’m honestly not surprised that was her first instinct, it would’ve been mine too if I was in a concrete grave surrounded by only teenage boys struggling to contain their hormones. But I wasn’t. Trapped. 

It’s my fault she’s in there. I helped Thomas leak Wicked coordinates to the Right Arm, and when he took the fall for it and went into the maze, she went in running after him. I would’ve gone in too but… but someone has to be on this side, helping them because god knows no one else is going to. At least that’s what I tell myself.

A grunt from behind startles me and I turn to find Janson standing behind me, a clipboard in his hand. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be at guard training right now” he asks, “It was your idea after all.”

“I wanted to see how she was handling being awake,” I say slowly as he looks over me in doubt, “to measure her brain activity.”

“All measurements taken are recored and stored on a database, you know this” he eyes me suspiciously but continues, “go train. You’re not needed here right now.”

I have to bite my tongue to keep myself from snapping at him, and instead brush past him and head towards the small training center in Wicked. 

He was right in that it was my idea to train with the guards even though I’m a scientist. I lied and told them it helped stimulate my brain and thus helped me analyze data better. God they’re so fucking stupid. I really wanted to start training because I know that when they escape the maze and come here, they’ll need help getting out, and I’ll need to be able to fight.

_________

In my room, I change out of my pants and sweater and into leggings and a long sleeve shirt. When I look up from my spot in front of the sink and into the mirror I want to laugh. The circles under my brown eyes are even darker than before, and my short black hair is doing nothing to make me look less haggard. I should’ve never cut it to my shoulders.

I’m a few feet from the door to the training room when I hear gun shots and I internally groan. It’s target practice day, which means I’ll be spending the next two hours shooting moving targets and almost going deaf from the loudness of it. 

There’s something about using a gun that makes me feel so… what’s the word for it? Guilty? Evil? Because in all likeliness, the person at the other end of the gun is probably defenseless, and here I am with a gun pointed at their head. I’d rather do hand to hand combat because at least then they can fight with me, fight back, instead of them just starring down the barrel at death.   
Nevertheless, I shoot anyway. Sometimes I miss and sometimes I hit the bullseye. There’s no strategy in it, no dance, only brutality.

_________

By the time I get back to the control room where I monitor the maze from, Teresa is no longer on the top of the make-shift tower, and it takes me five minutes searching through the cameras to find that she’s just sitting and talking with chuck. 

Out of the corner of my eye I see Gally dragging Thomas, after giving Alby the Griever antidote, to what I think they call a- slammer? I’ve been studying what they call everything for the past three years in my free time because, honestly, why not? 

I used to believe whole-heartedly that we would find a cure, distribute it, and the world would turn back to normal. I would spend hours upon hours studying the data I got from the maze, until I realized that the maze was too time consuming. The trial itself I mean. It would’ve been easier just to take small blood samples from the kids and study those in relation with brain scans. Eventually we would be able to find a way to replicate it, and if we couldn’t we would know at least that a cure is quite literally impossible. When I presented this to my superiors at Wicked, beyond happy that I found a way to find a cure without the use of the maze, they talked to me as if I was an infant, explaining that it would be more time consuming to do it my way, as if I hadn’t researched the logistics behind it. I think that was the day I figured out Wicked for what it really is, a group of old men and women so fucking afraid that they can only think in straight lines and miss seeing around the curve. I think they think that if they find a cure using the maze then they’ll be able to justify it. Justify all the pain and trauma they’ve put innocent kids through. 

I’ve never asked them, though, if they think it’s all worth it. I already know the answer, and besides, the more questions I ask, the more I risk. And I have to be alive and ready when they come out.


	3. Chapter 3

Teresa’s POV:

The food today was the same as yesterday. Filled with bland protein and unseasoned vegetables but I can’t really blame Frypan, he’s just working with what he’s got. 

I was supposed to try out jobs today, but I think after Alby getting stung and the general disarray of the camp, Newt really couldn’t be bothered to walk me around, so instead I’ll be working in the garden with him. Not that I’m really upset about it, I don’t mind working in the garden, it’s better than working with the slicers anyway.

It’s weird seeing all these boys interact in a familial manner, I thought to myself as I pulled out the carrots. Something tells me I won’t get to experience that with them and it… I- I just wish I could. They’re all so close and even though we’re trapped in a concrete box, they don’t seem terribly bothered by it. Like they found home even here, even with complete strangers. 

I’m jolted out of my thoughts when a small stick hits the back of my head. I turn around to see Newt standing from his spot across the garden, smiling at me, “whatever you’re thinking about must be very brutal considering the state of the carrots you’ve been pulling” he jokes.

I look down and see that my hands are on either end of a carrot, like I’m about to snap it like a twig. I drop the carrot sighing, then look up at Newt with a weak smile, “Too many thoughts not enough brain I guess” I joke. He smiles warmly back at me and then continues with his shoveling. 

The rest of our time in the garden is quiet and somewhat peaceful, like a soothing exhale. That is, until Thomas and Minho run back into the Glade from the maze and fall to the ground panting. I looked from them to Newt, he nodded and started walking over to them. I followed.

“What have you done now Thomas?” Gally snapped.

Thomas glared at Gally, “We found something, a new passage,” he breathed, “we think it could be a way out.”

“Really?” Chuck exclaimed.

“It’s true. We opened a door, something I’ve never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day.” Minho responded. 

“Whoa… wait wait wait wait, you’re saying you found the Grievers home and want us to go in?” 

“Their way in could be our way out Chuck.” I said softly, trying to soothe the boys’ fears.

“Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side,” Gally argued, “The truth is, Thomas doesn’t know what he’s done as usual.”

That seems to be Thomas’s last straw because he stood up, and pointed at Gally’s chest, “Yeah? Well at least I did something Gally,” Thomas scolds, “I mean, what have you done? Huh? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?”

“Let me tell you something, Greenie” Gally sneers, “You’ve been here three days, alright? I’ve been here three years.”

“Yeah and you’re STILL here Gally! What does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently.”

Out of the corner of my eye I see Clint standing in front of the medhut, waving us down. When I squint at him in question he starts pointing inside and I realize what he’s trying to say. 

“Hey” I start, but no ones listening.

“HEY” I yell and they all turn towards me, “It’s Alby.”

They all turn towards the medhut and see Clint waving rapidly and rush over.

Newt stops next Clint who’s standing in the doorway to the hut, “Has he said anything?”

“No.”

We all walk in and see Alby sitting up, hunched over, staring into space. 

Thomas is the first of us to speak, “Alby? Alby are you alright?”

“Alby, we might have just found a way out of the maze,” Minho adds, “did you hear me? We could be getting out of here.”

Alby’s voice is cold and haunted when he responds, “We can’t. We can’t leave. They won’t let us.”

“Wha- what are you talking about? What do you remember?” Thomas stammers.

“You. You were always their favorite. Why did you do this to us?”

My heart cracks from the pain in Alby’s voice, the sheer pain and confusion.

Thomas never got to answer his question as Winston ran in, panting.

I looked over at him in confusion, “Winston? What’s wrong?”

“It’s the doors. They aren’t closing.” 

It was those three words, those three words that caused my blood to run cold. That caused ice to spread over my muscles.


	4. Chapter 4

Isabelle’s POV:

I’ve been friends with most of the people in the Glade since I was a kid, since I first arrived at Wicked. They’re my family, maybe not by blood but by pain, by choice. 

You don’t really realize what you’re really doing until they send your loved ones in there, before they do that it all just feels so… so passive. You don’t hurt for people you’ve never met in the same way you hurt for people you love. It’s whole new level of pain.

When sent Newt up, Minho, Thomas, Teresa- all of us really- raged. We never even got to say goodbye. 

It was like that every time after, but each time those of us left got smaller and smaller until it was just me. Just me throwing shit in my room and screaming into my pillow. I wanted to go and demand they send me up with them, but by then I knew Wicked for what it really is and knew they would need me on this side to help them when they made it out of the maze.   
That’s all I can think about as I watch from the control room as Minho and Thomas find the exit of the maze. I knew they could do it.

I look over to check their brain activity, which is normal. Of course it is, because the maze is essentially useless. It’s testing the wrong variables. But of course, Wicked doesn’t care.   
But then I see an orange area in Minhos brain turn red indicating stress and my eyes fly back over to the monitor to see them sprinting out of the tunnel and back towards the mass of the maze.   
C’mon Thomas pick up the pace, I scream internally. He might’ve survived one night in the maze but I don’t think he could survive another. 

My hands hurt from gripping the side of my chair hard, my knuckles turning white. 

I don’t think I’ve blinked since they started running.

But I relax as soon as the make it back into the main part of the maze, letting out a shaky breath. That was a close call, way too close. 

I jolt in my seat when I hear Camden, another Wicked scientist, start talking from behind me, “damn, they barely made it. That gotta have some repercussions on their brain activity.”

I stifle a groan. Camden has been my friend for a couple months now. When I leaked coordinates with Thomas to the Right Arm, he was the one who discovered that it was Thomas and reported him to our superiors. I wanted to be furious when I found out, but I- I wasn’t entirely mad. Thomas and I knew that it was highly likely that we would be found out, and Camden just thought he was doing the right thing. He was the one who advocated for sending Thomas into the maze when our superiors had wanted to kill him. 

Part of me hopes that when it’s time to leave, he’ll come, that he’ll leave all this behind. But I don’t think he will. 

I look back at the monitor one last time, and see the Gladers realizing the doors aren’t closing. 

They’re close to end, and I can’t bare to watch to see who survives the night. 

_________

Given that they just found the exit, it’s time to finalize my plan. 

When the Gladers leave the maze and are “rescued” from Wicked, they’ll come here but they won’t remember anything from before, which means that it’ll be too hard for me to gain their trust on my own in the small amount of time that we’ll have. They’re more likely to trust another kid who’s gone through the maze too.   
So, I guess all I have to do is find a kid who is already here, looks unsuspecting, show them what really happens when their name is called, and convince them to help my friends when they get   
here and in exchange when we escape the kid can come with us. 

How I’m going to gain this kids trust? I have no idea. Maybe I can give them a cookie or something? Some vodka? Or maybe I can just be all like “yo if you don’t help me you’ll probably die here but if you do help me I can get you out”. 

Yeah… yeah that seems like the right way to do it.


	5. Chapter 5

Teresa’s POV

We sprinted out of the Medhut and toward the doors. When we finally stop in front of them, I can feel the fear radiating off of every single one of us. I glance over at Chuck and he looks like he’s about to klunk his pants again. 

Thomas is the first to break the silence, “Chuck, go to the Council Hall and start barricading the doors okay?” With that Chuck took off towards the Council Hall. 

“Winston, you go with him.” Newt adds.

“Minho,” Thomas says quietly, “I want you to grab every weapon you can find. I’ll meet you at the Council Hall.”

Then he turns towards me,”Teresa, you and I are gonna go get alby, okay?”

I nod but before we can take off running we hear mechanical whirling and my heart stops. Thirty feet in front of us are four Grievers. Instead of running for my life all I can do is stand and stare because, this- this couldn’t be real. 

It takes Thomas pulling on my arm for me to start running towards the corn field. I try and will my legs to go faster and soon enough we’re crouched on the ground in the corn maze. 

And it’s oddly silent, until I hear that mechanical whirling again. 

My eyes widen as a mechanical scorpion tail hurtles down and grabs Zart. 

“ZART” Thomas screams lunging forward, but I hold him back because Zart is already gone.

“Go! Get to the village” I scream at the rest of them as I pull Thomas up with me, “go go GO!” 

We start sprinting towards the village, stopping when we see Chuck and Jeff carrying Alby. 

“What’s going on?” Alby demands.

“They’re here,” I respond.

“Grievers?” Jeff whispers.

Alby’s eyes widen as he looks at me then to Thomas then to the Griever twenty feet behind us. I swear I could see his soul leave his body.

Thomas turns to look and shouts “Everybody RUN” as we all start sprinting but we don’t make it far. 

The Griever in front of us moves it’s tail over its head like it’s ready to strike.

On instinct I grab the lantern and chuck it at the Griever, lighting it on fire. 

It doesn’t take us long to start sprinting again, this time towards the Council Hall. 

Running with a Griever chasing you instills a new kind of fear, a ground shattering, heart racing type of fear. There’s no fight or flight response, there’s just flight.  
We barely make it in time, barricading the door behind us as the Griever crashes into it. 

Thomas turns around shouting, “Is everyone alright?”

He gets a string of replies in response. 

Just when we thought everything was safe again as we were huddled in the middle of the room, the Griever breaks and collapses the roof, knocking us to the floor.

And in a matter of moments it’s tail grabs a kid and pulls him out screaming. But it doesn’t stop there, it reaches in again and this time starts to pull Chuck out. Thomas, Minho and I all lunge to grab ahold of Chuck while the Griever tries and pulls him back. Just as our grip was slipping, Alby starts hammering at the Grievers leg, forcing it to let go.

I grab ahold of Chuck as he falls to the ground only watch the tail come back once again and grab Alby.

It all happened so fast. Thomas grabbing onto Alby trying to pull him back. Alby saying something to Thomas, his face growing solemn. Alby letting go.   
And before I could stop him, Thomas is sprinting out the door, the rest of us following him.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sight. I think it’ll haunt all of us for the rest of our days.

The village on fire. Screams echoing and bouncing off the concrete walls. And as if can’t get any worse, a furious Gally storms over and punches Thomas square in the face, screaming that it’s all his fault.

Newt is the first to yell, pulling Gally off Thomas, “Back off Gally, this isn’t Thomas’s fault!”

“You heard what Alby said! He’s one of them!”

“One of who?”

“He’s one of them, they sent him here to destroy everything, AND NOW HE HAS,” Gally continues,”look around Thomas! LOOK AROUND! This is all your fault!”

I look at Thomas, he has his head bowed to the side, looking at Chuck. Confused, I turn to look at Chuck and see he has the stinger from the Griever in his hand.

“Back off Gally,” Minho starts, “this isn’t Thomas’s fault.”

Thomas grabs the stinger from Chuck, mumbling to himself, “maybe he’s right.”

“Thomas-” I start but he interrupts me.

“I need to remember Teresa.”

“Thomas sto-” but before I could finish he stabbed himself in the leg with the stinger and fell to the ground.

I ran next to him and knelt down, shaking him trying to keep him awake, but it was useless. He went limp in my arms.

_________

I’ve been sitting next to him in the half-burnt down Medhut for the past couple hours. I suppose it’s nearly dawn by now. We gave him the serum minutes after he passed out, but he hasn’t woken up yet.

The door swung open and Gally walked in with three other guys behind him, standing with their arms crossed. 

I my entire body tensed. Fuck, this isn’t good. I tried to play off my fear by smiling weakly at him, but he only furrowed his eyebrows deeper. 

He whispered something to the guy to his left, who then came over, grabbed my arm, and lifted me up.

“Get off me,” I sneer, trying to push him off but failing, “Gally what the hell are you doing?”

“Everything that has gone wrong started when you and Thomas got here, and since i'm now in charge, I’m going to set everything right.” He replied stoically.

“What do you mean you’re gonna set everything right?” I question him frantically but he doesn’t respond, instead he just nods at the guy gripping my arm who starts pulling me out of the room.   
Just as I was about to finally get out of his grip, Gally sent his other bootlicker to grab my other arm. Great, now I have two people dragging me to the slammer.


	6. Chapter 6

Isabelle’s POV:

I woke up ten minutes ago and made a bee-line for the control room to scroll through footage of last night to make sure my friends had survived it. 

I stop when I see them all gathered out in front of the Council Hall, staring at the fires and destruction the Grievers caused. I see them fighting and then I see…wait- what? The recorded footage shows Thomas stabbing himself with a Griever stinger and falling to the ground.

Of course Thomas would do that, I don’t even have the right to be surprised. 

Camden leans over my shoulder, watching it happen and chokes on his water. 

“Holy shit, I would not have expected that from Thomas” he comments, turning back to his desk to look over the brain scan footage from last night. 

Yeah that’s because you don’t know him, you don’t know any of them, I wanna say. You purposefully don’t make any friends here because you know you’ll have to put them in the maze eventually, I want to snap at him, but I don’t. Instead I roll my eyes and continue looking through the footage. I see them inject the serum into Thomas but after that not much besides them cleaning up the Glade. 

I turn to the live monitor and pause when I see Teresa being dragged by two of Gally’s men towards the Slammer. What the fuck?

I turn towards Camden, “Camden, you’ve been watching live footage all morning,” I say and then point towards my monitor, “what’s going on here?”

Camden sees what I’m pointing at, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion and then whatever he’s about to say dawns on him, “Oh that. Teresa was in there all night with Thomas waiting for him to wake up. Gally was out in the glade shouting at everyone and going around to talk each glader individually. I’m assuming he was trying to convince them that they should lock up Teresa and Thomas- or something like that.”

I look at him, my mouth in an “O” shape and he just laughs and then smiles, turning back to do some more work.

I look back at the monitor and see the two guys who had dragged Teresa to the slammer heading back to the Medhut. If I had to make a guess it would be that they’re gonna drag an unconscious Thomas to the slammer as well.

I was right. I watch as they drag an unconscious Thomas to the slammer, and try to bite back a laugh. I really shouldn’t laugh but the picture of them struggling to drag Thomas to the slammer is just so funny. 

However, eventually they make it, and lower his body in. 

Well, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. But before I leave to go scout the dining hall, I see Minho on another monitor packing a couple bags with weapons and water. I can’t help but smile at him, always preparing, always onestep ahead of everyone else. 

_________

It’s time to find a kid to help me with my plan, so I get up from my chair and mumble to Camden that I’m going to the dining hall for breakfast, but before I make it out the door he shouts, 

“Wait!”

I turn back to look at him, an eyebrow lifted, “yeah?”

“I’m gonna come with you, I’m starving” He responds, smiling softly. 

I want to say no, but I have no reason to give him as to why he can’t come, besides, I’ve never been able to say no to him when he smiles like that.

So I offer him a small smile and nod.

The dinning hall is crowded with young kids ranging from 13-17 eating breakfast. Usually I eat in my room, but today I need to find a kid, so here we are.   
I grab my food from the buffet, Camden on my tail, and head to a table at the very back that faces the rest of the room. 

I sit down facing the rest of the room and then Camden plops down right in front of me, blocking some of the room, and I want to groan in annoyance. He’s somehow always in the way.  
He looks up at me from under his blonde eyelashes furrows his brows in confusion and then goes back to eating. 

I take this as my chance to analyze room. I need someone who is mostly by themselves or separated, and that’s when I spotted him. Sitting at a table on the side of the room, by himself except for one other person, a sad expression sat upon his face. I feel bad for him, his friends are all seemingly gone except for one and I know he’ll never see them again.

I was rattled from my thoughts by Janson speaking, calling names out of kids who will get to “leave”. The kids friend gets called and he looks up at her with a sad smile, and she says goodbye, calling him Aris. 

Perfect. Now that I have his name I can look up his medical visitation schedule, and well… ambush him I guess. 

I look back over towards Camden and see he’s staring at me in confusion, when my face mirrors his, he nods to my plate and I look down.

I haven’t touched my food. 

I look back up at him, lying smoothly, “I’ve lost my appetite. Cramps.” 

His face falls and I laugh a bit. He smiles back, looking like he’s about to laugh too.

“Prick” he says. 

“Hey, you’re the one who pointed it out” I respond laughing. 

_________

I told Camden I needed to run to my room real quick to change my tampon but really I just needed to use my laptop to check Aris’s medical visitation schedule, and lucky for me he’s supposed to go right after breakfast. I mean, yes, I will need to change my tampon at some point, so I didn’t lie per se.

I grabbed my white lab coat on the way out and put it on, heading towards the medical wing. 

He’s supposed to be in the room farthest from the entrance to the wing, and by the time I get there, he’s in the room getting ready to leave.

I slide in and shut the door and curtains behind me and turn back towards him.

He freezes, looking at me like a wounded puppy, and I don’t know what to say, he just… he looks so scared. 

“It’s okay, I promise I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.” I promise. 

“That’s what they all say.” He responds.

“Well, they were lying. I’m not.”

For a minute he doesn’t say anything, instead just stares. For a second he looks like he’s about to say something but then closes his mouth. I take this as my queue to explain myself.  
I decided to just get straight to the point, “You’re still with Wicked.” 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone go from skeptic to terrified so quickly, and I rush to finish what I needed to say, “I’m a scientist for Wicked, but don’t agree with their methods and I’m here to actually help you.” 

When he looks like he’s not going to scream I continue, “My friends are in a maze right now, when they escape and come here I plan on getting them out of here and out of Wickeds hands for good. If you help me, I can get you out too.”

He looks at me warily but nods for me to continue so I do, “The kids that Janson calls out aren’t going to the Right Arm, they never leave this Wicked facility.”

“But-”

“There’s no ‘but’. They. Never. Leave.”

I have to internally scold myself for being so harsh, this kid just went through literal hell, and now he’s having some Wicked scientist tell him his friends aren’t actually leaving this place.

“You don’t have to agree to help me right now, but I’ll show you where they’re taking them, and after you see them, if you agree to help me, I can get you out.” I explain.

“H- how are you going to show me?” 

“If you want to see, take the vent from your bedroom right after lunch and head east in them. Eventually you’ll hit a dead end with vent dropping down in front of a door. Drop down and i’ll be waiting there for you.”

With that I leave, and head back to my room, praying he’ll come.


	7. Chapter 7

Teresa’s POV:

I’ve been sitting in the slammer with an unconscious Thomas for hours now, just counting the seconds that pass.

One of Gally’s henchmen explained what was happening, that Thomas and I were to be banished.

Most of the glade reluctantly fell behind Gally and this crazy idea. Minho and Newt are the only ones I know of that have but are planning something else too. They said when Thomas wakes up they’ll explain the plan to the both of us, but for now I just have to wait here in silence.

I can’t help but replay last night over and over again in my head. The way we watched all four sides open. The Grievers screeches and Gladers screams. I can’t get them out of my head.  
A small gasp tells me Thomas has woken up and I look across the small ditch watching as he looks around, his eyes landing on me and his face scrunching in confusion.

“Hey, are you okay,” I ask but don’t give him a chance to answer, “what the hell were you thinking?”

“What happened?”

Before I could answer, Newt showed up and answered for me, “Gally has taken control.”

“He said we had a choice, either join him or get banished with you at sun down.” Minho explains bitterly. 

Thomas looked up towards them, “And the others agreed to that?”

“Gally has everyone convinced you’re the reason all this has happened.” Newt says softly.

“Well, he’s been right so far.”

I pause, looking from Thomas to Newt then back to Thomas, “What’re you talking about?”

He lowers his head, looking at the ground, “This place- it’s not what we thought it was. It’s not a prison, it’s a test,” he looks back up at all of us, “it all started when we were kids, they would give us these- these challenges.”

“They were experimenting on us?” Newt asks more to himself than to Thomas.

Thomas ignored the question and continued explaining, “And then people started disappearing, every month like clockwork,” Thomas paused, “they were sending them up into the maze, but…but not everyone.”

Minho’s brows furrowed, “what do you mean?”

“Guys, I’m one of them,” Thomas stammered, “The people who put you here, I worked with them. I watched you guys for years, I was on the other side of it.

He then turns to me, “and so were you.”

At that my stomach rises to my throat, “what”

“Teresa, we did this to them” he breathes.

“No- no that’s… I wouldn’t- that can’t be true.”

“It is. I saw it.”

“Why would they send us up if we were with them?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“He’s right, it doesn’t matter,” Newt confirms, “any of it.” 

When both Thomas and I look up at him in confusion he continues, “because the people we were before the maze don’t even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that,” he looks between Thomas and I, “but what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now.” He then looks directly at Thomas, his voice commanding authority, “you went into the maze and found a way out.”

“Yeah but if I hadn’t Alby would still be alive.”

Newts gaze softens, “Maybe… but I know that if he were here, he would be telling you the exact same thing. So, pick your ass up and finish what you started. Because if we do nothing, that means Alby died for nothing, and I cannot have that. I will not have that.”

“Okay, but we have to get through Gally first.” I point out. 

_________

Newt, Minho and Chuck left when they spotted Gally’s supporters coming towards the slammer. Thomas pretended to still be passed out.

They opened the gate and told me to climb out. Once I did, they pulled Thomas out and dragged the both of us over towards the open doors. Before I even realized what they were doing they were tying me up against a wooden pole. That’s when others began to speak up.

“This doesn’t feel right man.”

“Yeah, what if Thomas is right?”

“What if he can lead us home?”

Gally whirls around to face them, “We are home. Look, I don’t wanna have to cross any more names off that wall.”

Trying to follow his logic was like trying to follow a fly, “and you really think banishing us is going to solve anything?”

Gally turns to me, “no. but this isn’t a banishing. It’s an offering.”

My knees buckled a bit out of fear, “wait what!?”

“Gally what are you doing?” Someone pipes up from behind us.

“You really think I’m gonna let Thomas back into the maze after what he’s done?” Gally shouted, “Look around! LOOK AT OUR GLADE! This is the only way, and when the Grievers get what they came for, everything will go back to the way it was.”

I try and turn my head to the gladers standing behind me, “why are you guys just standing there? He’s crazy!”

Gally turns to glare daggers at me, “you shut up”, but I didn’t.

“If you guys stay here, the Grievers are going to come back. And they’ll keep coming back until you are all dead!” I yell.

Gally tells me to shut up again and then turns towards his two followers who are holding a limp Thomas, “tie him up!”. But they don’t move. “Did you hear me? Tie him up!”  
But faster than the two followers could move, Thomas springs up, stealing their weapons and runs to the front of the open doors.

Gally scoffs, “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“You don’t have to come with us, but we are leaving,” Thomas replied and then turned toward the other gladers, “Anyone who wants to come, now is your last chance.”

I turn my head again to look at the Gladers and spot Chuck out of the corner of my eye running with a bunch of bags and weapons towards us. I can’t help the soft smile that grazes across my face. Just as I was about to turn back towards Thomas, a knife cuts the ropes holding my arms above my head and I look over to find Minho with a small smirk on his face, and I smile back, running over to where Thomas, and now Chuck and Newt, are.

“Don’t listen to him! He’s just trying to scare you.” Gally says to the rest of the Gladers, all while sending a death glare at Thomas.

But Thomas just brushed it off, “No, I’m not trying to scare you. You’re already scared. Hell im scared too. But I’d rather risk my life out there than spend the rest of it in here.”

Some of the gladers start to murmur to themselves, I look over at Newt and nods his head towards Chuck and I move to stand next to Chuck, taking a bag from him and smiling down at him.   
Thomas continues, “We don’t belong here. This place isn’t our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. And at least out there we have a choice, we can make it out of here.”

I look towards Gally, “I’m sorry Gally, but it’s over. Just- just come with us.” I plead. 

“Good luck with the Grievers.” He responds simply.

A few more gladers come over to where we’re standing, nodding at Thomas. 

I look back at the glade one last time, at Gally one last time. 

And turn to start running with the rest of them.

A few minutes in Thomas starts yelling, “we’re almost there you guys, keep up.

God how did they do this everyday it’ fucking exhausting. Who has this kind of stamina?

Soon we were at the tunnel, and Thomas turned to look down it. He looked back at us, stress written all over his face.

“Is it a Griever?” Chuck asks.

“..yeah”

“Shit.”

Minho holds out a metal tracker, “you take this Chuck. Stay behind us.”

A mix of fear and stress was displayed on Chucks face, and wanted to soothe his anxiety just a little I said, “it’s okay. Just stick with me.”

He looked to me and nodded.

“Once we’re through, it will activate and the door will open,” Thomas said, nodding towards the tracker, “alright, we stay close, stick together, and we’ll get through this, or die trying.”

I nodded, ready to fight our way out of this hellscape. 

“Ready?”, we all nodded, “alright, lets go!”

We ran around the corner and down the tunnel. My legs wanted to stop and sprint the other way but I forced them to keep running straight while the Griever charged us. 

It didn’t take us long us long to push it over the edge, but as we were pushing it, the tracker flew from Chucks had rolling over to the edge. I watched in horror as he ran after it, almost falling over the edge. 

“CHUCK”, I screamed as I sprinted towards him, “I got you Chuck” I breathed as I pulled him back up over the edge, panting.

I pulled him up and we got up fast as we saw two Griever emerge on either side of us. We started sprinting towards the exit, Chuck shrieking the entire way.

Thomas turned in confusion, “Chuck? Oh- SHIT! We got more coming!” He said as Chuck and I ran past him, barreling towards the door. 

I watched the giant concrete door lift once we reached it.

“It worked!” Chuck exclaimed from beside me, look over at me and I smiled back, then started running in. 

We reached the vault-like door and I started banging on it, looking for a way to get in. Then I noticed a keypad to my right, and I activate it, but there’s- there’s a…code? I study it a bit more and realize it’s an 8 digit code. 

I turn back towards Thomas, yelling to get his attention, “Thomas! There’s a code! 8 digits.”

He turns to Minho asking him for the maze sequence. 

Minho starts rattling off the numbers,”Seven! One! Five! Two! Uh Six! Four!”

He suddenly stops and I look back to see he’s under a Griever, one wrong move away from getting eaten. “Oh my god.”

Jeff runs out, stabbing the Griever, allowing Minho to get up.

“Minho! C’mon what’s the sequence?!” Chuck screams.

“Eight! Three!”, Minho shouts, “you got it?”

I type in the rest of the numbers and hit the middle button, and the whole digital pad turns green. 

Just as we were about to be finished by the Grievers, the concrete doors come crashing down, turning the Grievers into slosh.

Darkness envelopes us all, and then the vault door opens, leading to a sterilized hallway.

I’m the first to walk out, glancing back, but heading through the door anyway. The rest followed.

Frypan scoffed when he saw the exit sign lit up in read letters. Such a simple way to lead us out, so… anti-climatic.

We pushed through the door, only to see what looks like a lab in complete ruins. I sucked in a sharp breath, bodies were scattered across the floor.

I walked over to the desks, seeing monitors with video footage of the glade. I look up at Thomas through the glass, the vision giving me déjà-vu.

Suddenly, a woman in white pops up on a screen nearby, rambling on about a post-apocalyptic world and a disease. She shows us pictures of the world as it is know, cities in absolute ruins, millions dead. My gut twisted at the sight of it. 

I was nearly knocked back as I saw her shoot herself on camera. 

“She said we’re important.” Frypan mutteres.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Newt asks Thomas.

“I- I don’t know. But lets get out of here.”

We started walking towards the door but were stopped dead in our tracks as someone from behind us says “no”.

I whirl around and see Gally standing there, not even ten feet away, with a gun and tracker in his hand.

“Gally?” Thomas starts, but I hold him back, “Don’t- he’s been stung.”

Thomas stops, look down at Gally’s arm and then at the gun in his hand.

“We can’t leave.” Gally insists.

“We did. Gally, we’re out. We’re free.” Thomas points out.

“Free? You think we’re free out there? No. No, there’s no escape from this place.” Gally scoffs, raising his gun, aiming it at Thomas. 

“Gally listen to me, you’re not thinking straight. You’re no” Thomas insists.

I tense by his side, glancing with only my eyes at Minho, who looks like his readying his spear.

“Now we can help you,” Thomas continues, “just put down the gun.”

But it’s evident Gally’s not listening. “I belong to the maze” was all he said before everything went into slow motion. Gally pulling the trigger, Minho throwing his spear, Chuck jumping in front of Thomas. 

I watched as Gally gasped in and out, with a spear through his chest. I watched as he fell to the ground, falling limp, and I let out a shaky breath.

“Thomas-” Chuck whispered, and we all turned towards him. Blood was soaking through his shirt and he fell to the ground, Thomas holding him.

“No…” I breathe, as Thomas starts yelling at Chuck telling him to stay awake, telling him that he has to stay awake.

I fall to my knees, my back against a wall, not processing what’s happening before me. Tears rolling silently down my face, hands shaking, pieces of my soul shattering.

I could see Chuck saying something and Thomas responding, but I couldn’t hear anything, besides a violent ringing in my ears.

And then Chucks body fell limp, and I watched Thomas scream and rage and sob. I watched it all unfold. And then in the distance I saw an outside door open, backlit figures rushing in, trying to usher us out. 

“Thomas” I cried. But he didn’t hear me. He didn’t hear anyone. Not the mystery figures, not Newt, not Minho. No one. 

Eventually the mystery figures decided to just drag Thomas kicking and screaming out the door with the rest of us. 

We ran out the door, my feet hitting sand as soon as I left the building, running up a sand dune and towards a helicopter .

As soon as Thomas got in, we lifted up, flying to god knows where. I just sat staring at nothing. One of the mystery guys said something, but I wasn’t paying attention, I just sat there staring at a speck of Chucks blood on Thomas’s shoe.


	8. Chapter 8

Isabelle’s POV

Lucky for me, no one’s walked by in the seven minutes I’ve been standing here outside the room where Wicked’s draining the kids. 

Lunch ended ten minutes ago and Aris still hasn’t climbed down from the vent above me. Was I too harsh? Too blunt? I’ll have to start all over if he doesn’t show up and I’m running out of time. I got an alert after I left Aris in the Medical Wing saying my friends have escaped the maze and have been picked up, which means they should be landing here soon. 

I…I could be seeing my friends in a matter of minutes. Some of them I haven’t seen in over two years and they’ll be here. I can see them. I can talk to them. Bu- but they won’t remember me. They won’t have any memories of me. Thomas won’t have memories of him and I pranking Newt together. Newt won’t remember how we used to gush to each other over our favorite books. Minho won’t remember dancing to Taylor Swift in front of me when I was irritated just to make me laugh. And Teresa, she won’t remember holding me while I had panic attacks. She won’t remember that we’re family, sisters. 

The thoughts break small pieces of my soul, turning them into glass shards. 

Just as I was about to give up and walk away, the vent grate above me opened and down climbed a small looking boy with a nervous stare. Aris. 

Perfect. 

I turned my head to look down both sides of the hallway to make sure no one was coming then smiled at him, ushering him towards the entrance. 

I swiped my ID card and the door opened.

I watched as Aris’s mouth dropped in fear as he saw the kids, strung up with tubes coming out of them.

I grimaced. This place is everything thing I hate about Wicked in one room. The Maze is one thing, but this… this is different. This is sickening. 

“What…w-why?” He whispered, looking at me. 

I turned back to one of the strung up bodies, cringing internally, “this is phase two,” I said softly, “the maze was phase one. There are three phases.”

I turned back to look at him, expecting to see a mask of anger, instead seeing a traumatized boy looking up solemnly at a girl with dark hair. 

I walked over, standing next to him, “she was from your maze, wasn’t she?”

“…yeah.”

“I know an apology from me isn’t worth much, but for whatever it is worth, I’m sorry” I said quietly. 

“It’s not, but…thanks anyway.”

I just nodded. “We can’t spend long in here, eventually someone will come in,” I said, turning back to look at the door, “I can’t help your friends who are already in here, but I can get you out when we leave.”

He paused, looking at the girl one last time, a sad smile on his face and then turned back towards me, “what do I have to do?”

“When my friends from the Maze get here, I need you to sneak into their room from the vents at night,” I paused, looking at him to make sure he was following what I was saying, “When you get to their room bring Thomas, who’s the one with brown hair, freckles, and brown eyes, here. Show him what’s really happening.”

Aris’s face shifted in confusion, “Why don’t you show him?”

“Thomas is suspicious of everyone, he won’t trust me enough to come.”

Aris nodded in agreement.

“I’ve been speaking with the head of Wicked, trying to get her behind the usage of blood work instead of phase two and three, but she’s refused. Regardless, she’s coming here earlier than expected. Which means she’ll likely want to speed up phase two, so we’ll have to leave before she gets here,” I paused again to make sure he’s following, “We need to leave by the end of the second night they’re here and no later. So, all you have to do is find Thomas, show him this room, and when they realize this is still Wicked they’ll want to leave. When they do, you need to come and find me so I can reprogram a keycard to get them out. You and I will meet them on the other side of the exit door. Got it?”

“Whoa. That was a lot.” He says, closing his eyes in recollection, “So, I have to find Thomas, show him this room, convince them to that this is Wicked, and when they try to escape- come and find you so you can reprogram their keycard, and then we’ll meet them on the other side of the exit door?”

“Yes. Exactly that.” I reassured him.


	9. Chapter 9

Teresa’s POV:

I glanced back for a second, watching as Minho tried to shake Thomas awake, as I ran towards the building standing tall before me. It looked like a metal fortress. But when we got inside, it was less like a fortress and more like some kind of facility. There were huge crates everywhere, multiple floors, metal railings. It felt like a prison.   
_________

We’ve been sitting in the same room for an hour now. Thomas has been staring at the floor the whole time, not saying a word. I watched as Newt stared at him, concern plastered on his face.  
This doesn’t feel real. It all feels like a fever dream. The colors are too bright, sounds from the other side of the door too loud. 

I pinched my arm just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. 

The metal door screeched open, in walking a tall, skinny looking man with a weird grin on his face, “You kids doing all right? Sorry about the fuss, we had ourselves a bit of a swarm.”

We all got up and walked over to where he was standing, Thomas asking the questions we were all thinking, “Who are you?”

“I’m the reason you are all still alive,” he said casually, looking us over like we’re his annoying younger siblings, “It’s my intention to keep you that way. Now come with me.” He finished as he’s turned around, walking out of the room.

Reluctantly, we all followed.

“You can call me Mr. Janson,” he started, as we were walking to god knows where, “I run this place. For us it’s a sanctuary, safe from the horrors of the outside world.” 

He glanced back at us, “you should all think of it as a way station, a home away from home if you will.”

“That means you’re taking us home?” Newt asks.

“A home of sorts,” Janson says, facing forward again, “sadly there isn’t much left of wherever you’re from. But we do have a place for you. A refuge, outside the scorch, where Wicked will never find you again.” 

My heart blossomed at the thought.

No one said anything, until Minho spoke up, “why are you helping us?”

“Let’s just say the world out there is in a rather precarious situation. We’re all hanging on by a very thin thread. The fact that you kids can survive the Flare virus makes you the best chance of humanity’s continued survival,” Janson paused for a moment, “Unfortunately, it also makes you a target, as you’ve no doubt noticed.”

He stopped in front of a large metal door, swiping his keycard, opening the door, “beyond this door lies the beginning of your new lives,” he paused, sniffing, “but first lets do something about that smell.”  
_________

I’ve been sitting on a tall table for ten minutes now. Still reeling from Janson came in, ranting to me and asking if I wanted my- Swipe?- out. He said if I had it taken out, all my memories would slowly start coming back to me, and I said yes without hesitation. How else am I supposed to make sense of where I am and what’s going on if I only have a fraction of the information? After he removed it, he said I would likely have a headache for a while until I’ve regained all my memories. Then he left. 

I watched as the woman across from my table-top seat worked with a microscope and red liquid. I don’t think she’s noticed that I’ve been watching her since the doctor left to go get some supplies. I squinted my eyes a little and notice the red liquid is blood and accidentally choke on air, coughing. The girl paused what she was doing, her short black hair swaying a little as she lifted her head up. Just when I thought I’d been caught and that she was going to turn around to scold me, her head lowered and she went back to her work. 

That same moment the doctor came back, shutting the curtains around us, blocking out the girl I was looking at. 

She smiled warmly at me, her dark skin glowing as she did, “I’m just going to give you a few more injections. They have all the vitamins you were deprived of while you were out there.”

I simply nodded and looked away, wincing as she injected me with the liquids.

After she threw away the used shots, she continued, “because you got your swipe removed, you’ll be quite dizzy and out of it for the rest of the night and morning, so we’ll move you to a separate room so you can monitored.”

I wanted to fight her on it, I wanted to see my friends, but I was already starting to feel dizzy, so I didn’t. 

She left, mumbling something about preparing the hospital room for me, closing the curtains behind her.

Mere minutes after she left, the curtain opened again, but this time it wasn’t the doctor. It was the young woman I was watching from before. She closed the curtain behind her and turned towards me. I blinked.

She looked so familiar but I couldn’t seem to place my finger on it. I guess I had a similar effect on her because she stood there in front of me, eyes wide, mouth opening and closing slightly like   
she wanted to say something. 

“Teresa?” She whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

Isabelle’s POV

“… Teresa?” I whispered.

Teresa’s eyebrows drew closer, a frown forming on her face, “yo-you look really familiar,” my heart stopped but she continued, “who are you?”

There are two things I could do. I could either tell her I’m simply a Wicked scientist and leave it at that, or I could tell her I’m her sister. I never thought a choice like this would be so hard to make. 

“I’m Isabelle Agnes.” I responded with as much confidence as I could muster.

I watched as her eyes widened and then panicked as her head fell to her hands in pain.

She gasped in pain and I moved forward on instinct to help her.

“god my head.” She groaned.

“It’s because you only just got your Swipe removed and now you’re being hit with a rush of memories,” I explain, “just breathe deep and the sharp pain should subside in a minute or two.”  
Soon enough, her breathing got deeper and she removed her head from her hands and looked up at me, eyes watering, “Izzy?” She cried, enveloping me in a bone crushing hug.

I felt myself exhale deeply and hugged her tightly back, tears rolling down my face.

“I’ve missed you so much.” I cry into her shoulder.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” She sniffled, pulling back a little to look me in the eyes, “how are you here?”

I pulled back to give her more space, “I don’t have enough time to explain it all, besides, it’ll make more sense when you have more of your memories back.”

She nodded, her arms letting go of me.

“I can’t stay here long but there are some things you need to know,” I paused, looking to her to confirm that she understood and she nodded so I continued, looking around me, “this- this is Wicked. You guys haven’t escaped them.”

Her face fell, eyes clouding over and I explained, “the maze was phase one and in the next two days they’ll start phase two, so we’re leaving before they can take you guys.”

“You guys?” She asked.

“Thomas, Minho, Newt, Fry- all of them. I getting you all out. Tomorrow.”

“How?” She muttered.

“I can’t go into detail, but you’ll know when the time comes, I promise. But I have to go now, your doctor will be coming back any minute.” 

“I- okay.”

I smiled at her and walked back to the curtain.

“Wait!” 

I turn to look back at her and she jumps off the table to hug me. And somehow, even in the midst of this shitty situation, I feel at peace in this moment. 

She pulls out again, “just don’t die between now and tomorrow cause I have so many questions.” She scolds. 

“I wouldn’t even dare.”  
_________

On my way back to the control room I stopped in front of the dinning hall, staring in through the glass windows. I only looked at one table though. It was towards the middle, and to the left a bit, and it had every single one of my friends seated there. 

I really should’ve kept walking, I needed to go to the control room, but I just couldn’t force my feet to move an inch. 

They’re so close. I could go in and walk past them. That would be enough. It would be enough to be in the same room as them. To breathe the same air as them. Because before…before all I had was a computer monitor and memories. And now, I’m so… I’m just so fucking close. 

But before I can make a move through the door, I hear footsteps behind me, coming from the same way I just came. I glanced over my shoulder to see Teresa being escorted to her hospital room where she can be monitored. 

As she passed me, I looked back into the dining hall and saw Thomas moving toward the exit, shouting, only for the guards to stop him. I watched as his face fell and his eyes sent daggers to the guards. 

But that was all the time I could allow myself. So I forced my feet to move forward and towards the control room, glancing back only once to see Minho laughing at something Frypan said.


	11. Chapter 11

Isabelle’s POV

I spent some of last night in the control room, but most of it was spent in the lab for one final try. I spent hours writing down exactly what to do and what the logistics are for doing small blood work instead of the Phases. I typed up and printed all the data I’ve collected so far and put all of it in an envelope.

Aris was supposed to show Thomas the vents last night, and if Thomas agrees to help him, they’ll probably go back again today to look in the room. 

But they haven’t gone in yet. I’ve been siting in the small security room off of the control room all day, watching and waiting for Aris to show Thomas the inside of the room. It’s past dinner and we’re running out of time. Fuck, c’mon Aris hurry up. 

I packed a small backpack this morning, throwing in an extra set of clothes, dried food, a water bottle- the essentials really, it’s sitting in my room, ready to go, along with the envelope I’ll leave in there for my superiors to find that details everything they’d have to do to go the blood work route. My last resort I suppose.

I’m startled out of my thoughts when the door to the security room opens abruptly, Camden strutting in. 

“How come you’ve been in here all day? I didn’t realize you were on security duty today.” He questions.

I turn away from the monitors and look at him, feigning annoyance at my superiors, “I was assigned by them this morning, as if my talents lie in guard detail and not in biology.”

“Well, you’re good at literally everything you do, so I’m not surprised.” He responds, a small smirk on his face.

I can’t help but return it. 

“Well, us plebeians, have more work to do so I’ll leave you to it.” he said, dragging is feet out of the room.

As soon as the door shut I let out the breath I was holding. Fuck. What am I going to do about Camden? I- I can’t just leave him here, but he also won’t come willingly.

I turned back towards the monitors, pushing the thought to the back of my head, but my heart stops as I see Aris and Thomas coming out of the room where they take the kids for Phase Two. I watched as they frantically climbed back up into the vent and I know it’s time. 

There’s only one person in the control room when I walk into it. Camden. And in order to reprogram the twin keycard Aris is bringing me, we’ll have to have access to the security room that can only be accessed by walking through the control room, which means Camden has to leave.

But there’s no way to convince him to leave and I’m almost out of time, so instead I walked up quietly behind him, said a silent prayer to whoever’s listening- asking for forgiveness, and put him in a headlock, blocking his airways until he’s passed out in my arms. I lie him gently on the ground and sprint to my room.

Once I get there, I change into my training clothes- thick black leggings and a long sleeve gray top with combat boots. I rush to look through my backpack to make sure I put everything in there, and head back to the control room without a second glance back. 

_________

Camden is still passed out on the floor of the control room when I get back, and within seconds of arriving I hear pounding in the vents and soon Aris climbs- wait Aris and Winston? 

As soon as Aris drops to the ground he explains, “Thomas wanted him to come with me.”

I look to Winston as he’s sizing me up and just roll my eyes, of course Thomas did. 

I grabbed the security card, twin to the one Thomas has, from Aris and go into the security room. Before I start reprograming it, I glance through the monitors to see where they are and it shows them in Teresa’s hospital room, helping her up. I can’t help but smirk, I love it when my plans work fantastically.

By the time I finished reprogramming the card, they were all in front of the exit door, panicking because their keycard failed. Then, when Thomas swiped it again it worked.

I turned toward Aris and Winston, “Lets get the fuck outta here.”

We all ran back into the control but I paused, looking down at Camdens unconscious body, and I- I can’t leave him here. Even if when he wakes up he’ll want to kill me and throw my body in an unmarked grave. 

I frantically turned towards Aris, “grab three zip ties from the back of the room,” he just looks at me like I’ve grown three heads, “JUST DO IT!”. I turned towards Winston, “help me sit his body up.   
We’re gonna carry him out and when he wakes up we’ll zip tie his arms behind his back.”

Winston does as I asked and we lift Camden up and carry him between the two of us.

“Aris c’mon we have to go.” Winston yells.

And with that, we are out the door running as fast as we can, taking the back halls towards the exit. 

Aris makes it through the little side door before Winston and I, but eventually we make it and everyones head turns towards us- or me more specifically.

“I’ll explain later but we HAVE TO GO.” I try and reassure them. 

Thomas looks to Aris and Aris nods and I want to groan in frustration. 

“C’mon Thomas lets go, we gotta keep moving.” Minho insisted.

“Right right.”

I look back one last time at the door, seeing Jansons ugly face through the glass, glaring at me and turn to run out the final door and into the Scorch.


End file.
